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THURSDAY, July 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) — From 2001 to 2015 there was a decrease in the percentage of health care professionals who are self-employed and a decrease in the earning gap between self-employed and employed health care professionals, according to a study published online July 12 in JAMA Network Open<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Kamyar Nasseh, Ph.D., and Marko Vujicic, Ph.D., from the American Dental Association in Chicago, extracted data from the 2001 to 2015 American Community Survey to examine trends in self-employment and employment. Analyses were limited to 175,714 self-identified dentists, physicians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, chiropractors, and physical therapists aged 30 years and older.<\/p>\n
The researchers found observed a decrease in the weighted percentage of self-employed physicians from 35.2 percent in 2001 through 2005 to 24.7 percent in 2011 through 2015. During the same period there was also a decrease in the percentage of self-employed dentists from 73.0 to 65.1 percent. The regression-adjusted earnings gap reversed among physicians from $19,679 during 2001 through 2005 to \u2212$10,623 during 2011 through 2015. During the same period, the regression-adjusted earnings gap narrowed among dentists from $30,448 to $21,291. The earnings gap also reversed among pharmacists, optometrists, and podiatrists, while among chiropractors and physical therapists the gap narrowed.<\/p>\n
“Since 2001, the percentage of health care professionals who are self-employed declined, and the gap in earnings between self-employed and employed health care professionals narrowed,” the authors write.<\/p>\n